Friday Bolts – 11.13.09

The podcast returns later today. Have no fear lionhearted friends. You will soon hear my voice again.

Here we go again (@jimtraber says): “The pathetic Bill Simmons was at it again. He must nave pictures of someone at espn. He knows nothing about sports, and thinks he’s funny … Hey Bill… You work for GQ?? Iv’e seen you, and you need to stop dogging others looks, and clothes. Pathetic!! … You knew little dailythunder would come to the rescue. A dude who blogs on a sports he thinks he knows.LOL!! … dailythunder doesn’t listen to what I say, but he sure does listen everyday. I wouldn’t listen to someone I thin is so clueless. Nice life … OHHH, got me there nerd boy!! I guess little thunder boy is sending this to his idol, Simmons. Wow, thats scary.” Traber LOLs. Now that’s scary.

Kevin Durant, doing cool things via Twitter: “Ok ima have a lil trivia question…1st person to answer it right ima send u a nike package…4 pairs of shoes and some hoodies n all dat … Jus gave out like 20 pairs of shoes to some of my tweet fam..now im goin 2 gamestop..ima give summore out tonight to the biggest thunder fan.”

Everybody is talking about how LeBron James plans to switch his number from 23 to 6 in honor of MJ. As reader MartzMimic pointed out, nobody is currently occupying No. 6 on the OKC roster. Just sayin’.

Zachariah Blott for Empty the Bench: “Although the team is 4-4, three of their wins came against clubs missing stars. Detroit’s Richard Hamilton, Orlando’s Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis, and the Clippers’ Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon never suited up against the Thunder in losses. OKC’s one other win was opening night against the Kings, who then downed the Thunder two weeks later without the services of Kevin Martin (31 ppg). That being said, they are a far cry from the 3-29 record they started with last year and they did manage to take the Pau Gasol-less Lakers to OT.”

Chad Ford taking an early look at next year’s draft class (Insider): “There isn’t much room for Warren to move up right now. He was ranked by most NBA scouts as a surefire top-10 pick for the 2009 draft and with Blake Griffin gone from Oklahoma, he is now running the show. But it would be criminal if I didn’t point out that every NBA scout I spoke with raved about his performance at the LeBron James Skills Academy this summer. He was the best player there, according to everyone I spoke with. Warren is currently ranked No. 4 on our Big Board.”

Coach Fran has something to say too (Insider): “I always have fancied myself as something of a draft guru, and after 30 years of experience around the game of basketball, including 23 as a college coach and parts of two as an NBA advance scout, I’m positive I’m just as capable of being wrong as the next guy. Evaluating is not an exact science, and even the best miss the mark from time to time. If every NBA general manager nailed every draft selection, every team would end up at .500. Even an educated eye makes mistakes.”

I just feel the need to say it: Tyson Chandler so far this year: 26 minutes per game, 6.8 points per game, 6.9 rebounds per game and 1.25 blocks per game. I believe in Sam Presti.

On Hugging Harold Reynolds, some guy was convinced to be a Thunder fan: “Chris noted that the deciding factor came down to the fact that the team is a novelty and he can start somewhat fresh, “I’d rather root for a team that’s new. I can’t be a Celtics/Bulls fan. I’ll have to check the unis first.”He was also quite fond of one line: “So welcome to the Thunder family. Have a seat anywhere.”

Traber simply needs the attention, and craves acknowledgment. Good, bad, no real difference. For him, the true nightmare would be for someone to pull the plug and turn off the lights, leaving him ignored. That's the one thing he couldn't tolerate. He lives for the attention. He's basically a sideshow act, but I don't think that matters to him as much as having everyone know who he is. His chest-thumping isn't self-importance so much as insecurity. But that's how I think you define him.

I linked to the "JimTraberSays" site to read Clark's comments, and there wern't any- Just Traber responding childishly. Were Clark's comments there at one time, and were deleted, or do I just not understand how that site/the whole twitter thing works? They should seriously consider re-naming it "JimTraber'AssSays", though I suppose the new name would be a bit redundant.

Oh, he just looks angry. He is imaging Royce's head tattooed on a baby kittens face right then, foreseeing what is coming to plan. Man, and $1.44 shipping and handling!? Will it cover the bill to cut that raccoon off the back of his head?

@J.G.Yeah, I mean it's closer to 150,000 a month and while I'm very excited about the interest in these here site, hits don't mean everything to me. I'm glad this can be a place that Thunder fans can come and discuss. If only 10 people looked, that'd be good enough for me. This team deserves a good site and I intend on giving it to them.

@RoyceNow Royce, I think you should do the hit counts on a monthly basis, far more eye-opening in number. I mean, isn't that what he wants this to be based on? Sheer size instead of accuracy, integrity and class when commenting on sports?

If Traber only knew how many hits the Daily Thunder gets in a day/week/month thanks to solid writing, insight and, obviously, the TrueHoop connection, I think he'd have to reassess life itself if he compared them to his site.

dylan :When Tramel slammed him the other day for running to japan to play baseball cause he couldn’t hack it in the states, you could literally hear his forehead veins pumping. It was a glorious moment.

@Royce Don't take his stubborn slights with a grain of salt. Their ratings are faltering and it seems like he's clinging to this issue as a last resort. The Sports Guy knows basketball. Royce knows basketball. Most people who post here know basketball. Jim (Fat) Traber does not know basketball. Hearing him try to discuss the Stephan Jackson issue is like my pug trying to tell me how to drive a car.

dylan :When Tramel slammed him the other day for running to japan to play baseball cause he couldn’t hack it in the states, you could literally hear his forehead veins pumping. It was a glorious moment.

My favorite moment during the Traber-Collison feud was when Tramel reminded Jim that he bragged about the weather compared to OKC when he lived in Phoenix. Traber kicked him off the show, and refused to apologize the next day.

His political "debate" with Doug Gottlieb almost made my head explode, too. What an idiot.

I think the fact he likes to say, "Little man" and "little Thunder boy" and other crap like that is basically a window into his thoughts. He's got serious issues with being "manly" and feeling big. Whatever. It all kind of rolls off my back. I've got more important things to worry about than Jim Traber, like a .500 basketball team! Woo!

@DuncanSame here, though he's not the first to pull a, "I played at a higher level than you and thus know more." Normally though, those guys were somebodies in high school and are living off that for their life. Traber had a pro sports career (not in basketball mind you), what exactly does he feel he has to prove? He's acting like that kid who played JV all four years and still thought himself tough enough to call everyone not on the team a nerd.

Clark Matthews :What’s funny about this one is that Jim might as well be describing himself at The Sports Animal. He knows all about how important ratings are, and if Simmons wasn’t the biggest draw to ESPN.com, Jim might have a point.

I would say it’s quite definitely the other way around… ESPN is the biggest draw to Bill Simmons.Simmons is the ESPN vanilla equivalent of Stephen A. Smith and will hopefully last as long.The only appropriate response to the slight about the coaching staffs suits being on sale in OKC would be the equally honest and thoughtful “so is your mother” or “so is your face” which are the default come back to any unwarranted or nonsensical putdown.All that being said… I would absolutely love it if the teams name actually was the ‘Zombie Sonics’.

Clark Matthews :What’s funny about this one is that Jim might as well be describing himself at The Sports Animal. He knows all about how important ratings are, and if Simmons wasn’t the biggest draw to ESPN.com, Jim might have a point.

I would say it's quite definitely the other way around... ESPN is the biggest draw to Bill Simmons.

Simmons is the ESPN vanilla equivalent of Stephen A. Smith and will hopefully last as long.

The only appropriate response to the slight about the coaching staffs suits being on sale in OKC would be the equally honest and thoughtful "so is your mother" or "so is your face" which are the default come back to any unwarranted or nonsensical putdown.

All that being said... I would absolutely love it if the teams name actually was the 'Zombie Sonics'.

What exactly did Simmons do that hurt Traber's feelings? I quit listening to his show awhile ago. I have a feeling this has more to do with the fact that Simmons has been everywhere the past 2 weeks promoting his book and Traber thinks its a great way to get listeners.

@RoyceAs most of us have seen the athletic specimen that is Jim Traber and along with his years a college quarterback, pro baseball player, and backup shooting guard to Air Jordan, you two should have a "Sports-Off." A game likening to Mad Max and what a better venue than the Thunderdome? Trivia, HORSE, Hot dog eating, sky is the limit. Bring it up next time you two hang out.

That "clutch" article is pretty interesting. KD sure is good at getting to the line late in the game, especially with that wild swinging motion he uses where he basically fouls himself by hit the other player's arms (must be frustrating as hell to guard).

BUT... I wonder what the stats would look like if they eliminated free throws and just looked at clutch field goals...???

Interesting that all this Traber stuff comes up today, because NewsOK just released the new radio rankings in today's paper. Not all that surprising considering it's data from the summer, but it will be interesting to see the effect that OU's season has on WWLS's fall ratings.

I wish Mark Rogers did the 2-6 slot instead of Traber. That is when I am in the car the most and listening. If there was another station to listen to, Traber would lose more obvious numbers. I played basketball at a high level, coming of the bench for my YMCA rec league team has given me the knowledge to cover the NBA and I will be submitting my application to the Sports Animal.

@BryanYeah he spends the night at my house every Friday and we come up fun and entertaining ideas to get people talking. You should see what we have in story for December. I'll just say this: Megan Fox, hot chocolate, Pittsburgh Steelers.